Woo La La
Woo La La (released in Japan as Amai x Kireina) is a 2009 American 3D computer-animated romantic fantasy comedy-drama film produced by Gingo Animation for Universal Pictures. It was directed by Michael Wildshill from a screenplay by Karey Kirkpatrick and Billy Frolick, and a story by Wildshill, Kirkpatrick, and Geo G.. The eighth feature film from Gingo Animation, the film stars the voices of Josh Hutcherson, Debra Messing, George Takei, Ian McShane, Ken Jeong, Brad Garrett, Gong Li, and Hiroyuki Sanada. The film follows a young couple named Amai Yamada and Kireina Miyazaki, who try to get away from legendary creatures created by a greedy couple-hating collector named Warui Kobayashi. Originally developed under the title Nippon, Woo La La was the first Gingo film to be presented in 3D. The film was first released in North America on March 13, 2009 by Universal Pictures. It received critical acclaim and earned $532 million worldwide on a budget of $164 million. A television series of the same name aired on Cartoon Network from October 2011 until April 2013. Plot Coming soon! Voice cast *Josh Hutcherson as Amai Yamada, a shy but kind and pampered young man living in an apartment in Tokyo. His name "Amai" (甘い) literally means "sweet". He was an orphan after the death of his parents. **Jonathan Wildshill as Amai as a child. The voice actor is the director's son. *Debra Messing as Kireina Miyazaki, an innocent, kind, trustworthy, overprotective, and pretty woman who helps Amai as her boyfriend. Her name "Kireina" (綺麗な) literally means "beautiful". *George Takei as Warui Kobayashi, a haughty, ruthless, and greedy collector who dislikes couples, especially Amai and Kireina. He brings legendary creatures to life to track down Amai and Kireina. His name "Warui" (悪い) literally means "bad". *Ian McShane as Chani, an oni-like creature who is the leader of a team of hench-onis. He is one of Warui's henchmen. *Ken Jeong as Mio, one of Warui's henchmen. Being the Warui's henchman is Mio's first job, despite him being only a teenager. *Brad Garrett as Sumo Gumo, a Sumo wrestler who is one of Warui's henchmen and Mio's partner *Gong Li as Ying Yamada, the adoptive mother of Amai *Hiroyuki Sanada as Kabuto *Julia Kato as Amai's biological mother *Ken Takemoto as Amai's biological father *Gedde Watanabe as a sushi chef *Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa as Cho *Dee Bradley Baker provided vocal effects for Amai's pet Japanese raccoon dog Mr. Fazu. Additional voices *Junichi Uematsu *Sonoko Konishi *Michael Wildshill *Tom F. Warner *Takayuki Gotô *Karey Kirkpatrick *Gary Hall *Makoto Endo *Darren T. Holmes *Hiroshi Ohno Production The idea for a film about a boy and a girl falling in love in Tokyo was proposed by Michael Wildshill during the production of Gingo's 2004 film Computeropolis. At the time, Gingo encouraged everyone at the company to come up with ideas for more computer-animated features. Wildshill, Gingo CEO Geo G., and Karey Kirkpatrick developed Wildshill's concept into a story before pitching it to Gingo. Geo G. described the pitch as "Ico in modern times". Universal Pictures and Gingo officially announced the film, under the working title of Nippon, on August 1, 2003. Billy Frolick was contracted to write the script for the film with Kirkpatrick. In May 2005, Gingo announced that the film was expected to see a 2008 release. In September 2006, Universal Pictures scheduled the film, now titled Woo La La, for a March 13, 2009 release. According to Wildshill, the new title was a pun on "ooh la la", which means an exclamation of surprise, and "woo", which means to try to gain the love of a woman. Wildshill commented, "I tried to make the film's name less fun. The title would make sense since this movie is about two Japanese people falling in love." The Japanese release of the film was titled Amai x Kireina. The CGI animation for most of the scenes from the movie was done in-house by Gingo Animation in North Hollywood, California, while the hand-drawn animation for the anime sequences was done overseas by Production I.G in Japan and Saerom Animation in South Korea. The sequences that Production I.G and Saerom did are the opening sequence (which is shown after the opening logos but before the opening titles), dream sequences, Amai's flashback sequences, Kireina's flashback sequences, and the ending sequence (with the credits created by Prologue Films and Scarlett Letters). Music The score for Woo La La was composed by Hans Zimmer. The soundtrack was released on March 10, 2009 by Varèse Sarabande. Originally, Wildshill wanted Michael Giacchino to compose the music, but he was too busy composing for other feature-length projects, such as Star Trek, Up, and Land of the Lost (all three of which were released in 2009). Release Woo La La was released into American theaters on March 13, 2009. Universal Pictures distributed overseas, except in Japan, where distribution was handled by Toho. The film's theatrical release was accompanied by the short film The Sounds of the Ocean. Marketing *The film's teaser trailer was released on July 2, 2008, and was shown before Swapped, Meet Dave, Space Chimps, and Heroball. *The official theatrical trailer was released on October 3, 2008, and was shown before Beverly Hills Chihuahua, City of Ember, Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa, Bolt, Twist City, and The Tale of Despereaux. *TV spots began to air between February and March 2009. Home media Woo La La was released on DVD and Blu-ray on September 1, 2009 by Universal Studios Home Entertainment. Reception Critical reception On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 98% based on 183 reviews, with an average rating of 8/10, making it the highest-rated Gingo Animation film to date. The site's consensus states: "With a very clever story, spectacular animation, and wonderfully memorable characters, Woo La La is a delightful addition to the Gingo anthology." On Metacritic, the film holds a score of 89 out of 100, based on 46 critics, indicating "universal acclaim". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A+" on an A+ to F scale. Box office Coming soon! Reception in Japan Coming soon! Accolades Coming soon! Television series Transcripts Main To see the main transcript of the film, click here. Trailers To see the transcript for the trailers of the film, click here.